Titulo Regium
by turbomagnus
Summary: A dream. A fight. These are the first steps on a new path that will change the course for the Senshi and those around them. S1 Anime AU. Usagi/Mamoru, Naru/Nephrite. Somewhat negative depiction of the Inner Senshi.
1. 01 The Dream

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and all related characters and situations are the creation of Naoko Takeuchi and are used without permission or intent to profit.

Not quite the same as the whole 'Sailor Moon, champion of love, in the name of the Moon I will punish evil and that means you' speech Usagi gets to give, but... it keeps me safe. I hope.

* * *

"Titulo Regium"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

* * *

"No! No!" Chiba Mamoru thrashed around in his sleep, "Don't go away! Who are you?"

* * *

"Let me see your face! Please!" Mamoru was insisting in his dream.

"You've seen my face already, my Prince, why do you still deny me?" The Princess asked without moving.

"'Deny you'? What do you mean that I deny you?"

"Accept me, accept that there are things unseen..." Without warning or any sign of movement, The Princess was suddenly no longer standing on the balcony, but instead was directly in front of Mamoru, pressing her hand to his chest, "Accept this and set me free..."

Mamoru stood there in shock, her hand held over his heart, as he looked into a pair of too-familiar blue eyes; Tsukino Usagi's blue eyes.

* * *

Mamoru sat up in bed, covering his face with his hands, not knowing what to think about what he had just experienced. He was studying to be a doctor of medicine, he didn't believe in subjects like psychology that had no verifiable and repeatable evidence to them. He couldn't understand why his dream turned into a nightmare of that blonde crybaby that he could never seem to escape. Then he groaned, this from a guy who for months didn't even know he had a second personality that ran around the city in a tuxedo fighting monsters with flowers and a cane, didn't know until he had gotten ahold of some kind of magic gem that had broken the mental barriers between Chiba Mamoru and Tuxedo Kamen.

"The Rainbow Crystal..." Mamoru muttered, a thought occuring to him.

Throwing the covers off, he slid over and turned so that he was sitting on the edge of the bed before he opened the drawer of his nightstand and took out the Rainbow Crystal that was laying inside.

"It's crazy, it's completely insane," Mamoru told himself as he looked at the Crystal as it reflected and refracted the moonlight coming in through his window, "But..."

He sighed, "But if I couldn't remember until I had the Crystal, couldn't it be possible... she can't remember either? That somewhere inside the Odango Atama is my Princess, waiting for me to free her, and she doesn't even know?"

"Is that why we can't escape each other?" Mamoru asked the Rainbow Crystal, which didn't answer.


	2. 02 The Park

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and all related characters and situations are the creation of Naoko Takeuchi and are used without permission or intent to profit.

Not quite the same as the whole 'Sailor Moon, champion of love, in the name of the Moon I will punish evil and that means you' speech Usagi gets to give, but... it keeps me safe. I hope.

* * *

"Titulo Regium"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

* * *

Tsukino Usagi watched a leaf float in the park's pond; she felt like that leaf, a fragile thing cast off from its home and left to drift with no kind of anchor or guidance, nowhere to turn for comfort or protection, alone and abandoned. She didn't know who the Moon Princess was, not yet, but at that moment Usagi hated her for ruining her life like this. If it wasn't for the Princess, Usagi would still be spending her afternoons hanging out with Naru and her nights worrying passing her tests; not running out in the middle of the night when she should be sleeping to fight the Dark Kingdom and be constantly berated by everyone else the next day for how the fight went.

That, actually, was why she was in the park today. There had been another battle last night, another fight, which meant another meeting where instead of 'thank you for moondusting the youma, Usagi' for being the one to actually finish it off or even 'you'll do better next time, Usagi' because about midway through the fight she had stumbled and ended up knocking all of the others down - leaving them vunerable if Tuxedo Kamen hadn't shown up to distract the youma while they recovered, she had to listen to Luna and the other Senshi, especially Rei and Ami, bringing up every thing that went wrong, how it was all her fault, how she needed to focus more on being a Senshi and grow up; in Rei's case, it had even started to include how they could probably do better without her. When Rei had started that, it all became too much for the blonde, she ended up breaking down and running from the shrine crying. She hadn't even realise where she was until she had dropped to the ground, emotionally exhausted, and looked around to find herself in the park.

Usagi was like the leaf in the pond, delicately floating without anything to protect it when the waters of life began to get rough. Luna's insistance that being a Senshi, finding the Rainbow Crystals and the Moon Princess and fighting the Dark Kingdom came before everything else had pushed Usagi away from her old life, her old friends, and now she didn't have anyone to turn to for help, so she cried. It was all made worse by a simple fact; either no one knew or no one cared that it was Usagi's birthday, she turned fifteen that day. Her parents had assumed she was going to celebrate with her friends, Usagi was sure, and some celebration it had turned out to be... some friends they had turned out to be... So Usagi cried, fifteen and she was spending her birthday alone and crying.

'Happy birthday to me,' she managed to mouth through the hics and sobs, closing her eyes against the tears.

"Stop crying, Odango Atama... Soggy dumplings are no fun," a familiar - and unwelcome - voice penetrated the fog of sadness surrounding Usagi as the speaker sat down on the ground next to her.

Usagi didn't move, "Go away, Mamoru, I'm not in the mood to play today..."

"That's right, today's your birthday, isn't it?" Mamoru didn't wait for a response before he explained, "I can read lips."

"Then read my lips, Mamoru-baka; 'Go away'... please..."

"Don't you want your present?"

Usagi raised her head and glared at him, "You can read lips, jerk, you didn't know it was my birthday, so you can't have a present for me - so there!"

"You're right, I don't have a 'birthday' present for you, Usagi," Mamoru answered, using her name instead of his typical forms of address, "I was going to give this to you anyway, but it works out better if today's your birthday."

Usagi closed her eyes and visably deflated, "What are you going to do, you jerk? Push me in the pond? Go right ahead, it's not like today could get much worse anyway; getting pushed into the pond would be just about right for it..."

"Like I said, 'soggy dumplings are no fun'," Mamoru answered, reaching out and taking one of her hands gently by the wrist.

"Let go of me," Usagi half-heartedly tried to pull her hand away, she just couldn't find the strength inside her at that moment to put up any real fight.

Mamoru turned her hand so that it was palm up and with his free hand, pulled the Rainbow Crystal he had in his possession from his blazer pocket and dropped it into her palm. Instinctively, Usagi closed her hand around the object while Mamoru released her wrist and stood up, "Happy Birthday, Usagi-chan. I hope your day gets better."

His mission accomplished, Mamoru began to walk away. By the side of the pond, Usagi opened her eyes and looked at the orange crystal in her hand, unsure what to think as she reached her other hand into her pocket and pulled out a similar crystal, colored yellow, not noticing at first as something else fell out of her pocket when she did.

"Tuxedo...Mamoru?" She whispered.

Laying on the ground where it had fallen out of her pocket, the Star Locket opened and began to play.

Mamoru spun around at the sound and stared at the Locket for a moment before his eyes drifted up to Usagi's face, words forcing their way unbidden from his lips, "Sailor Moon?"

Forgetful of the Rainbow Crystals she held, Usagi reacted to Mamoru's usage of her other name by reaching out with both hands to try to close and cover up the Star Locket. As though he were a passenger in it, Mamoru felt his body move; stepping forward and kneeling as he reached for the Locket himself. By chance or fate, it happened; Mamoru, Usagi and the two Rainbow Crystals all touched the Star Locket at the same time and where their hands and the Locket touched, a bright light began to glow and move up their arms and across their bodies...


	3. 03 The Past

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and all related characters and situations are the creation of Naoko Takeuchi and are used without permission or intent to profit.

Not quite the same as the whole 'Sailor Moon, champion of love, in the name of the Moon I will punish evil and that means you' speech Usagi gets to give, but... it keeps me safe. I hope.

* * *

"Titulo Regium"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

* * *

Princess Serenity looked across the water at the Moon Castle, "I don't understand it, Endymion... Why all this pain and suffering instead of acceptance?"

Endymion stood next to her, his eyes on the reflection of his Earth in the water, "Greed and fear are dark emotions, Serenity, but powerful ones. Beryl's greed and the fears of those who follow her threaten to engulf both our worlds. I knew my guardians had their concerns about the relationship between our worlds and you and I, but I would never have thought they would have betrayed me like this to be among those under Beryl's banner... that they would be leading the attack on the Moon Kingdom as her generals. The final battle will be soon, Princess, the last hope for both the Earth and the Moon..."

"It will all get better, my Prince, you'll see."

Endymion smiled, "For a Princess of the Moon, Serenity, you're like a sun in dark times. Thank you. In these dark times, we need all the hope we can get."

"Even you, Endymion?"

"Especially me, Serenity," Endymion sighed, "I've lost my home, 'Queen' Beryl killed my family when she took over the Earth, my former friends are now her Generals... you're all I have left, Princess. When I fight, I fight for you and for our future... together."

"Ah!" Serenity gasped as she reached into a hidden pocket in her gown and took out something as she turned to him, "I almost forgot; I have something for you, Endymion!"

The Prince of Earth turned and cupped his Princess's hands in his own, "A locket?"

"Not just any locket, silly," Serenity shook her head, "It's the Star Locket, one of the royal treasures of the Moon Kingdom. According to legend, it will only play for a couple that is truely in love."

"Really?" Endymion's eyebrow rose as he moved his hands away from Serenity's so that he could pick up the Star Locket and open it. As the Star Locket opened, the crescent moon signet inside began to slowly travel around in a circle as music played. Watching the crescent moon circle, Endymion smiled faintly while Serenity blushed.

"This way, you'll always have something to remember me by, so you'll remember what you're fighting for when you're in battle," Serenity explained.

"I could never forget you, Serenity," Endymion countered, reaching out with the hand not holding the Locket to caress her cheek, "But thank you. I'll always treasure this Locket; not because it's a treasure of the Moon Kingdom, but because you gave it to me."


End file.
